An appeal from Frank Schätzing and Reinhard Schneider: “Best Practice instead of Utopia!”

Discussion in talk show format Die Zuversichtlichen about how we change from passive onlookers to active shapers of our future

“How can we take back control of our future?” was the subject of an hour-long talk between   Werner & Mertz owner Reinhard Schneider and best-selling author Frank Schätzing during the talk show Die Zuversichtlichen. This particular topic is moving and motivating great numbers of people. More than 75,000 followed the discussion via live streaming and on site in Mainz – and set a new record! Podcaster Zackes Brustik served as moderator.

Confronted by depressing daily news from around the globe, we often have a negative view of the world even when our own lives appear in a more positive light, said Schätzing at the start. “When we get away from the disasters taking place in our heads, we see that our personal situation is actually quite comfortable. That gives us the strength to cope with the world’s crises.”

Even the German economy has turned somewhat more positive than in the recent past, Schneider noted, but a deep-seated uncertainty persists that leads to “opportunistic agility”, i.e., . “making a little progress, securing small advantages in order to make it to the next year or two.” In Germany an avoidance culture has supplanted a decision-making culture and that’s “poison for innovations”. Schneider addressed his appeals to politicians who could contribute to planning security.

Schätzing urged players in the economy, society and politicians in equal terms to get started. “The transformation is coming and we’re right in the middle. If we don’t join in, we’ll be gone tomorrow!“ The creative potential has long been there; now it finally has to turned into reality. As two of many positive examples, Schätzing mentioned that Germany is second in the world behind the USA in patent applications and is the leader in robotics.

While major corporations stick to proven concepts, the Mittelstand (SMEs) is pushing innovations and successfully readying them for the market, said Schneider. They may not be as spectacular as fresh ideas from the lab, but they do get implemented. “Best practice is the little brother of big utopia and is even closer to the present. Best practice shows which of many ideas has made it past pre-selection and is on the way to becoming a real alternative option,” Schneider added.

According to Schätzing, we need more storytelling of positive success stories. “With the right narratives and the right presentation—if it’s fresh and encouraging, if it gets people’s attention and speaks to them in their everyday lives—then you can reach so many. We just have to use that!” He suggested that school is the place to start. Schätzing advocates teaching children and teenagers how they can use the Internet to get a representative view of the world and to get past “this small circus of horrors” they usually see

Schätzing and Schneider raised the issue of Europe’s strength and how it should be used more effectively in the future. Schätzing suggested that when we think about risks, we also have to consider the opportunities and said a good example is the current damage to our transatlantic friendship. “The chance we should have seized long ago is in the expansion and development of our innovative and economic power in Europe—after all, the largest single market in the world. Crises push us to act!”

Schneider sees the strength of Europe in shared values and said he hopes for greater cooperation among countries. When we share our know-how, we get to scaling faster and no longer need to ask for outside support, he noted.

As a whole, the conversation was highly optimistic. A viewer added some humor in a LinkedIn posting with: “Space Boy and Frosch as inspirers – thanks for the format and all the friendly facts.”

Frank Schätzing is one of the most successful authors in Germany. He first came to the public’s attention with his best-selling novel The Swarm in 2004. In his non-fiction work published in 2021, What If We Just Save the World? Taking Action on the Climate Crisis, he examined the different perspectives of climate change, pointed out ways to solve it and connected scientific facts with practical recommendations. The carefully researched 360-page book reads like a thriller with a smattering of humor. Schätzing sketches varied scenarios for our future and shows how we might escape the climate trap—provided we are willing to do so.

Since 2000 Reinhard Schneider has been the managing partner of the Mainz family company Werner & Mertz, known primarily for its Frosch brand. In 2019 he received the German Environmental Award for the integrally sustainable orientation of his company. In his book Die Ablenkungsfalle. Die versteckten Tricks der Ökologie-Bremser. Wie wir unsere Umwelt nicht länger aufs Spiel setzen, he exposed the systematic failure of the economy, politics and society in environmental protection and proposed some proven solutions for a resource-conserving circular economy for the good of people and the environment. With the successful ecological transformation of his company, he convincingly shows that rethinking brings not only social and ethical benefits but also long-term economic advantages.

In the successful Live Talk format Die Zuversichtlichen (with 75,000 livestreaming viewers) the business leader and author Reinhard Schneider invites authors, networkers and pioneers to talk about currently relevant topics that we have to discuss if we, together, are to drive Germany and the world forward.